Liverpool have been handed a financial blow after it emerged they won’t be taking part in the revamped 32-team FIFA Club World Cup in 2025.
The Reds, winners of the competition in its current form when held in Qatar back in 2019, the year that they won the Champions League, had held out hope that they would be able to participate in the money-spinning competition in the USA in two years time if the UEFA coefficient would be taken into consideration.
But at a FIFA Council meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, over the weekend, where this year’s competition is being held, the decision that was taken back in March to limit each country to no more than two representatives in the competition, which will take place in July 2025 over 29 days, was ratified and a motion passed that saw clubs that have won the Champions League between 2021 and 2024 taking precedence over coefficients.
That means that Chelsea, winners of the Champions League in 2021, and the team they defeated on that night, Manchester City, winners of last season’s Champions League, will be the representatives of the Premier League. A window of opportunity does remain for Arsenal to qualify if they manage to win the competition this season, with winners permitted from 2021 to 2024 to take part.
Had Manchester City taken victory over Chelsea in Porto back in 2021 then it would have been the Reds who were assured of a place in the Club World Cup in 2025 due to their coefficient being the second best among English teams, above Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal.
But there will be no Liverpool in the US for the revamped competition, which drew criticism from some quarters when it was announced a year ago due to the expanded format creating the potential for even more pressure being piled on players and teams, already combating a hectic schedule, particularly in the English game, something that has been addressed by the likes of Reds boss Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola in recent years.
The revamped competition, which will take place every four years, offers considerable financial rewards, with the Guardian reporting that participation and subsequent success could be worth up to £50m.
FIFA made the move to revamp the Club World Cup format against the backdrop of the failed bid by 12 clubs, Liverpool included, to breakaway and form a European Super League in 2021. While all but Real Madrid and Barcelona have distanced themselves from the plan, the European Court of Justice will rule on December 21 whether or not UEFA and FIFA’s threat of sanctions to clubs wanting to form another competition was lawful or not, potentially kicking open the door to another move to launch a competition in the future.
Speaking to the ECHO last month, Daniel Haddad, head of commercial at global sports advisory firm Octagon, who has significant commercial experience in football, including in the Middle East, said: “The development of other competition structures that involve other confederations is an interesting one. The FIFA Club World Cup from 2025, there is a very real possibility, I think, that if that tournament is a success then it becomes not just a once every four years competition.
“The way it becomes a success is that it doesn’t become a mini UEFA Champions League pre-season type competition because the 12 European clubs are the only ones that can win it.“If you actually have some good Saudi Pro League teams, for example, with good squads that can qualify for that and compete, then that competition structure becomes more valuable and more money goes back to the clubs. So, having strong clubs in other confederations doesn’t impact the day to day stuff for the Premier League teams. You aren’t competing against them in league or European competition, but you have the potential to generate revenue from those teams.
The new format will feature the winners of the last four UEFA Champions Leagues, CONCACFAF Champions Cups, AFC Champions Leagues and CAF Champions Leagues. The rest of the competition will be made up of eligible teams from each territory based on a four-year ranking system, as well as a team from the host nation.
Outside Manchester City and Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Internazionale, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto and Benfica are the other European clubs certain to compete in 18 months’ time, with the remaining four spots still up for grabs.
